Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday said the state capital will be shifted to Visakhapatnam. Speaking at the preparatory meeting for the Global Investors Summit to be held in Visakhapatnam in March, he said he also would be shifting his office to the port city in the months to come.
“Here I am to invite you to Visakhapatnam which is going to be our capital in the days to come. I myself would also be shifting over to Visakhapatnam in the months to come as well,” he told the investors at the meeting, reported PTI.
The N Chandrababu Naidu-led government in 2015 acquired over 33,000 acres of land from farmers to develop Amaravati as the capital of the state.
After Jagan Mohan Reddy took over in 2019, the state government wanted to have three capitals-Visakhapatnam-Executive Capital, Amaravati-Legislative capital and Kurnool-Judicial capital and passed an appropriate legislation.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy government passed a Bill in the Assembly in November last year, repealing the controversial AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, which was intended to establish three capitals for the state.
Without putting any timeframe, Jagan, speaking on the floor of the Assembly said the government would come out with a “comprehensive, complete and better” Bill after plugging loopholes in the previous version.
In March last year, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled against the three capitals and directed the government to develop Amaravati as the state capital as envisaged.